There are many beside those to whom these words were first applied by Jesus Christ to whom they are applicable enough. They were originally intended to denote the positions of -

I. THE JEW AND THE GENTILE. The Jew, who prided himself on being the first favourite of Heaven, was to become the very last in God's esteem; he was to bear the penalty due to the guilty race that "knew not the day of its visitation," but imbrued its hands in the blood of its own Messiah. The scenes witnessed in the destruction of Jerusalem are commentary enough on these words of Christ. But this truth has a far wider meaning; it is continually receiving illumination and illustration. It applies to -

II. THE OUTWARDLY CORRECT AND THE ILL-BEHAVED. The Pharisee of every age and land is first in his own esteem, but he stands, in sullen refusal, far off the kingdom, while "the publican and the sinner" are found at the feet of Christ, asking for the way of life, for the waters of cleansing, for the mercy of God,

III. THE LEARNED AND THE IGNORANT; the astute and the simple-minded. Still we ask, "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?" Still may we, after the Master himself, give God thanks that he has "hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes." Human learning, in its unholy and foolish pride, still closes its ear to the voice that speaks from heaven. Lowly minded simplicity still listens to the truth and enters the open gate of the kingdom of God.

IV. THE PRIVILEGED AND THE UNPRIVILEGED. The children of privilege may be said to be among "the first." We congratulate them sincerely and rightly enough; yet are they too often found among the last to serve and to shine. For they build upon their privileges, or they reckon confidently on turning them some day to account, and they fail to use them as they should; and the end of their presumption is indifference, hardness of heart, insensibility, death. The first has become the last, On the other hand, the ear that never before heard "the music of the gospel" is ravished by the sound of it; the heart that never knew of the grace of God in Jesus Christ is touched by the sweet story of a Saviour's dying love, and is won to penitence and faith and purity; the last is first. Let presumption everywhere tremble; it stands on perilous ground. Again and again is it made to humble itself in the dust, while simplicity of spirit is lifted up by the hand of God. - C.

Sooner or later we all of us have to learn to say those words, "I must"; and our whole character, good or evil, saved or lost, will depend upon the way in which we learn to say, "I must." How we should learn to say, "I must," is the subject of this morning's sermon. "Nevertheless, I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following." Not to the Son of Man alone, but to every man there come inevitable days of life. No human can escape the necessity of saying at some hour, "I must." Even Napoleon has his St. Helena. We say, "I will"; and the next day find ourselves saying, "I must." God never suffers us to say the one for many hours without compelling us to say the other. Thoughtlessly we go our way, and look up to find ourselves facing the inevitable. There it is, steadily confronting us. It is hard as the face of a precipice. We cannot go around it. We cannot climb over it. We must stand still before it. There is no word of our English speech which we more cordially dislike than this same short word "must." We will not brook it when spoken to us by other men. Any friendship would be broken by it. Love knows nothing of it. Liberty consists in refusing to speak it when kings proclaim it, or any foreign might commands it. Men have died rather than yield to it. Yet consider how large a portion of our daily life is put before us, and how much of our own personality is given to us under some form of necessity; and how large consequently is the work of reconciliation to be accomplished, if it be possible, between the "I wills" and the "I musts" of our lives. There is, to begin with, the "must" of heredity. We cannot vacate our inherited individuality and choose another and a happier. We have to accept ourselves as we were born. Besides this primal necessity of our birth, there are the fixed grooves of natural law in which our lives must run, and all the forms of circumstance to which our individualities must be fitted. In the midst of these physical, industrial, and social necessities our space of spirit and freedom seems small as the cage of a bird, and hard sometimes as the treadmill of a beast of burden. Every day, every hour, has its limitations and thraldom of spirit for us. Pain is an insult to the spirit. Sickness is humiliation of the soul. Death is the triumphing as of an enemy over us. I have been expressing thus our common feeling of irreconcilableness to much that seems inevitable in human life. In order that we may learn to say "I must" in any true and free way, we should look more intently into the nature of this great compulsion which is laid upon us all. What is it? It wears ofttimes a face of fate. Is that its only and eternal countenance? Is there any thoughtfulness for us behind it? What or whose is this will which must be done on earth as in heaven? Our tone and temper when we say "I must" will depend very vitally upon our belief concerning the character of the Power whose grasp is the inevitableness of human life. To what voice, and to what voice alone, in the universe may a man answer, "I must," and "I will"? For this also is true that there can be no reconciliation for us with the inevitable, no happy harmony of our spirits with our circumstances and our necessities, until in some way we have learned to answer, "I will," from within our own free hearts, whenever that Voice from without speaks to us its inevitable "You must." The two voices from without and from within must become one, keyed to the same note and making one music, before life can be harmony and peace. I might say that it is religion which does this blessed work; that I have seen religion reconciling men and life; and that religion has joined soul to life so happily that henceforth no man can put them asunder. I might urge that only when we gain clear perception that every inevitable thing is a Divine thing, every word "You must" in our life a word of God, only then can we begin to answer with good heart, "I will." I might set in order the reasons for believing that beneath this whole appearance of inevitableness in human life and history there is a will of Divine righteousness, and a heart of infinite love. When we feel the touch of the love of God in the hand of fate, our hearts can say through all our tears, "Thy will be done." I might urge further that our present life, with its civilized temptations, and its polite lies of the devil, and its fashionable demons of unbelief and unrighteousness, lays upon all true men an urgent necessity of realizing the presence of the living God on this earth, if indeed we would keep the faith and the hope of a man's spirit amid the shams, and shames, and tumults of our world. I might urge you to try this religious way of reconciliation with life, to seek for some sign of God's presence, and to wait for some revelation of God's pure will, in all the events which come to you, and which you must meet in your way of life. But there is a nearer argument than this. There is clearer proof of this one true way of happy and harmonious life than even these evidences of our reason and conscience. It is shown to us — the true life, in its full strength, its noble harmony and peace, is all revealed to us — in the Christ of the Gospels. That was the life of perfect reconciliation with the world. When only twelve years old, what must be as His duty and His ministry was already Jesus' will of life. "I must" and "I will" strike one note in His Diviner speech. When He said, "I must be about My Father's business," it was with no cheerless tone, with no heartless voice of resignation. It was His meat to do the will of Him that sent Him. Knowing this world to be God's world, and perceiving life in it to be God's will, what He must do was what He would do, and every necessity of His ministry was welcome as a messenger from God's presence. The tragic inevitableness of His life — that dark shadow which He saw stealing over His path long before the disciples noticed any sign of its approach — the need of His sufferings and death, which even when He went down His trial-way they could not understand or believe — the cruel necessity of His betrayal, and the crucifixion in a world of sin, which Jesus saw must needs be the cup which it was the Father's will not to let pass from Him — all this was not enough to set His heart at strife with the way which to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following, He must walk, to make Him cease to call God's ordained hour, "My hour," or to go, eager and strong, to meet it. "Howbeit I must go on My way to-day and to-morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem." In this obedience unto death the will of God which is to be done on earth and the will of man are one and the same pure will.

(Newman Smyth, D. D.)

Hen, Herod, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus, PilateJerusalem, Road to Jerusalem, SiloamBehoveth, Can't, Conceivable, Continue, Death, Die, Jerusalem, Journey, Morrow, Needs, Nevertheless, Outside, Perish, Possible, Prophet, Surely, Third, To-day, Tomorrow, To-morrow, Walk, Yet1. Jesus preaches repentance upon the punishment of the Galilaeans and others.
6. The fruitless fig tree may not stand.
10. He heals the crooked woman;
18. shows the powerful working of the word, by the parable of the grain of mustard seed,
20. and of leaven;
22. exhorts to enter in at the strait gate;
31. and reproves Herod and Jerusalem.

Luke 13:31-33

     6696   necessity

Luke 13:31-35

     2318   Christ, as prophet

A Changed Life
TEXT: "And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity: And he laid his hands on her; and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God."--Luke 13:11-13. These verses present to us one of the most interesting stories imaginable--of interest to us first because it is one of our Lord's miracles, …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

True Sabbath Observance
'And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. 12. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. 13. And He laid His hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Strait Gate
'And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23. Then said one unto Him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And He said unto them, 24. Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not he able. 25. When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Christ's Message to Herod
'And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 33. Nevertheless I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.'--LUKE xiii. 32, 33. Even a lamb might be suspicious if wolves were to show themselves tenderly careful of its safety. Pharisees taking Christ's life under their protection were enough to suggest a trick. These men …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

On the Words of the Gospel, Luke xiii. 21 and 23, Where the Kingdom of God is Said to be "Like unto Leaven, which a Woman
1. "The three measures of meal" [3461] of which the Lord spake, is the human race. Recollect the deluge; three only remained, from whom the rest were to be re-peopled. Noe had three sons, by them was repaired the human race. That holy "woman who hid the leaven," is Wisdom. Lo, the whole world crieth out in the Church of God, "I know that the Lord is great." [3462] Yet doubtless there are but few who are saved. Ye remember a question which was lately set before us out of the Gospel, "Lord," it was …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, Luke xiii. 6, Where we are Told of the Fig-Tree, which Bare no Fruit for Three Years; and of The
1. Touching "the fig-tree" which had its three years' trial, and bare no fruit, and "the woman which was in an infirmity eighteen years," hearken to what the Lord may grant me to say. The fig-tree is the human race. And the three years are the three times; one before the Law, the second under the Law, the third under grace. Now there is nothing unsuitable in understanding by "the fig-tree" the human race. For when the first man sinned, he covered his nakedness with fig-leaves; [3442] covered those …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

Upon Our Lord's SermonOn the Mount
Discourse 11 "Enter ye in at the strait gate: For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in threat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Mat. 7:13, 14. 1. Our Lord, having warned us of the dangers which easily beset us at our first entrance upon real religion, the hinderances which naturally arise from within, from the wickedness of our own hearts; now proceeds to apprize …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Mustard Seed: a Sermon for the Sabbath-School Teacher
At this time of the year, Sabbath-school teachers come together especially to pray for a blessing on their work, and pastors are invited to say a word to cheer them in their self-denying service. This request I would cheerfully fulfill, and therefore my discourse will not be a full explanation of the parable, but an adaptation of it to the cheering of those who are engaged in the admirable work of teaching the young the fear of the Lord. Never service more important; to overlook it would be a grave …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 35: 1889

Accidents, not Punishments
Now, men and brethren, such things as these have always happened in all ages of the world. Think not that this is a new thing; do not dream, as some do, that this is the produce of an overwrought civilization, or of that modern and most wonderful discovery of steam. If the steam engine had never been known, and if the railway had never been constructed, there would have been sudden deaths and terrible accidents, not withstanding. In taking up the old records in which our ancestors wrote down their …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861

Liii. Repentance Enjoined. Parable of the Barren Fig-Tree.
^C Luke XIII. 1-9. ^c 1 Now there were some present at that very season [At the time when he preached about the signs of the times, etc. This phrase, however, is rather indefinite--Matt. xii. 1; xiv. 1] who told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered and said unto them, Think ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they have suffered these things? 3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all in like …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Sabbath Healing. Mustard Seed and Leaven.
(Probably Peræa.) ^C Luke XIII. 10-21. ^c 10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath day. [Our Lord's habit of teaching in the synagogue, which had been for some time interrupted by his retirement, had probably been revived during the mission of the seventy.] 11 And behold, a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. [The use of the word "spirit" in this verse indicates that the curvature of the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Strait Gate. Warned against Herod.
(Peræa.) ^C Luke XIII. 22-35. ^c 22 And he went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and journeying on unto Jerusalem. [This verse probably refers back to verse 10, and indicates that Jesus resumed his journey after the brief rest on the Sabbath day when he healed the woman with the curvature of the spine.] 23 And one said unto him, Lord, are they few that are saved? [It is likely that this question was asked by a Jew, and that the two parables illustrating the smallness of the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

At the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple.
ABOUT two months had passed since Jesus had left Jerusalem after the Feast of Tabernacles. Although we must not commit ourselves to such calculations, we may here mention the computation which identifies the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles of that year [4376] with Thursday the 23rd September; the last, the Great Day of the Feast,' with Wednesday the 29th; the Octave of the Feast with the 30th September; and the Sabbath when the man born blind was healed with the 2nd of October. [4377] In that …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Christ's Discourses in Peræa - Close of the Peræan Ministry
From the Parables we now turn to such Discourses of the Lord as belong to this period of His Ministry. Their consideration may be the more brief, that throughout we find points of correspondence with previous or later portions of His teaching. Thus, the first of these Discourses, of which we have an outline, [4708] recalls some passages in the Sermon on the Mount,' [4709] as well as what our Lord had said on the occasion of healing the servant of the centurion. [4710] But, to take the first of these …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Historical Situation
1. When Tacitus, the Roman historian, records the attempt of Nero to charge the Christians with the burning of Rome, he has patience for no more than the cursory remark that the sect originated with a Jew who had been put to death in Judea during the reign of Tiberius. This province was small and despised, and Tacitus could account for the influence of the sect which sprang thence only by the fact that all that was infamous and abominable flowed into Rome. The Roman's scornful judgment failed to …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

The Early Ministry in Judea
113. We owe to the fourth gospel our knowledge of the fact that Jesus began his general ministry in Jerusalem. The silence of the other records concerning this beginning cannot discredit the testimony of John. For these other records themselves indicate in various ways that Jesus had repeatedly sought to win Jerusalem before his final visit at the end of his life (compare Luke xiii. 34; Matt. xxiii. 37). Moreover, the fourth gospel is confirmed by the probability, rising almost to necessity, that …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

The Barren Fig-Tree.
"There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except …
William Arnot—The Parables of Our Lord

Completeness and Universality of his Character.
THE next feature we would notice is the completeness or pleromatic fullness of the moral and religious character of Christ. While all other men represent, at best, but broken fragments of the idea of goodness and holiness, he exhausts the list of virtues and graces which may be named. His soul is a moral paradise full of charming flowers, shining in every variety of color under the blue dome of the skies, drinking in the refreshing dews of heaven and the warming beams of the sun, sending its sweet …
Philip Schaff—The Person of Christ

The Christian Convert Warned Of, and Animated against those Discouragements which He must Expect to Meet when Entering on a Religious Course.
1. Christ has instructed his disciples to expect opposition and difficulties in the way to heaven.--2. Therefore a more particular view of them is taken, as arising from the remainder of indwelling sin.--3. From the world, and especially from former sinful companions.--4. From the temptations and suggest ions of Satan.--5, 6. The Christian is animated and encouraged, by various considerations, to oppose them; particularly by the presence of God; the aids of Christ; the example of others, who, though …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

The Sluggard.
The sluggard. The wishes that the sluggard frames, Prov 6:10; 24:30; 22:13; 20:4 Of course must fruitless prove; With folded arms he stands and dreams, But has no heart to move. His field from others may be known, The fence is broken through; The ground with weeds is overgrown, And no good crop in view. No hardship, he, or toil, can bear, No difficulty meet; He wastes his hours at home, for fear Of lions in the street. What wonder then if sloth and sleep, Distress and famine bring! Can he in …
John Newton—Olney Hymns

St. Athanasius,
PART I (AD 325-337) Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria by whom Arius had been excommunicated, died soon after returning home from the Council of Nicaea; and Athanasius, who was then about thirty years of age, was chosen in his stead, and governed the Alexandrian Church for six-and-forty years. Every one knows the name of St. Athanasius, from the creed which is called after it. That creed, indeed, was not made by St. Athanasius himself; but, as the Prayer-book says, it is "commonly called" his, because …
J. C. Roberston—Sketches of Church History, from AD 33 to the Reformation

Wesley's Remarkable vitality
1752. Sunday, March 15 (London).--While I was preaching at West Street in the afternoon, there was one of the most violent storms I ever remember. In the midst of the sermon a great part of a house opposite to the chapel was blown down. We heard a huge noise but knew not the cause; so much the more did God speak to our hearts, and great was the rejoicing of many in confidence of His protection. Between four and five I took horse, with my wife and daughter. The tiles were rattling from the houses …
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

The Hopeless Condition of the Left-Behind Ones.
What will happen when Christendom awakens to the solemn fact that the real Church, the Church of God, has been removed from this earth and taken to be with the Lord? Again we say, it is not difficult for our imagination to supply the answer. But we are not left to the exercise of our imagination; the Holy Scriptures contain a plain and full reply to our inquiry. The Word of God intimates that following the Rapture of the saints many of the left-behind ones will earnestly seek the salvation of their …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

First Attempts on Jerusalem.
Jesus, almost every year, went to Jerusalem for the feast of the passover. The details of these journeys are little known, for the synoptics do not speak of them,[1] and the notes of the fourth Gospel are very confused on this point.[2] It was, it appears, in the year 31, and certainly after the death of John, that the most important of the visits of Jesus to Jerusalem took place. Many of the disciples followed him. Although Jesus attached from that time little value to the pilgrimage, he conformed …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

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